A Hollow in Hanging Dog
by live-life-laughing-and-loving
Summary: Rukia is sent to take care of a hollow in Hanging Dog, the place where she grew up, and she decides to visit her old friends. But she doesn't realise Ichigo is following her! ONESHOT #IchiRuki (as always)


Had to write this one, been bugging me for AGES, so here it is... R&R please, always room for improvement, right?

...

It was unusual, but a hollow had appeared right in the middle of the Rukon District. The Head Captain didn't know why, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was disposing of it before it caused any harm.

Usually, this would have proved difficult as not many soul reapers could navigate around the outer skirt of Rukongai, never mind the huge maze in the middle - not even Renji was familiar with all of it!

But Rukia was. And, fortunately, she and Ichigo had appeared in the Soul Society recently. So it was Rukia they sent to take care of the hollow.

She left immediately, unaware of Ichigo following her closely behind. He was bored and needed to get away from Kenpachi, who was looking for him this very minute. Normally he would have caught up to her and asked where she was going, but there was something about the expression on her face that made him conceal his spiritual pressure instead. An expression he couldn't describe…

They quickly began advancing to the centre of the Rukon District; the houses were cramped into huge rows and the narrow streets were scattered with broken glass and empty boxes or barrels. The only strange thing was, the place was deserted. There was no one in sight.

Ichigo was having extreme difficulty keeping his distance between Rukia and him as small as possible. He kept tripping up over rocks or smashed bottles and there were so many turns that he had completely forgotten which way they had come. He was amazed by Rukia though.

She flew through the tiny roads with no trouble at all and seemed to know every path and every turn off by heart. Her footsteps quick and light, yet they seemed to move by themselves - avoiding every bottle and taking complicated shortcuts with ease.

Her eyes were half closed, looking at nothing in particular, as if she wasn't even concentrating on where she was going. Ichigo didn't understand how she could manoeuvre about here so easily!

Soon they came to the hollow; it was quite big and had powerful spirit energy. No wonder everyone had disappeared; no one in their right mind would stick around near this guy. Ichigo watched from behind a make shift house, wondering if he would have to interfere. Rukia hadn't even drawn her sword as she leaped up onto the roof tops. The hollow fired a cero at her. He missed. Then suddenly a huge gash appeared down the middle of it, and with a roar it disappeared.

Ichigo stared in awe – he hadn't even seen her zanpakuto. Rukia, still standing on a roof top, sighed before taking off again.

Ichigo had expected her to start heading back to the seiretei but that didn't seem to be the case.

Soon she stopped on top of a hill next to three mounds of mud.

"Hi again." She said her voice quiet and sad. "It's been a long time since I last came here. Just thought I'd tell you I was adopted into the Kuchiki family and, well… me and Renji are Soul Reapers now. We finally got out of Hanging Dog like we always wanted too… aha…" she laughed hoarsely, her voice cracking. There was a long pause.

"Chojiro… Ogai… Tanyu…" she whispered their names longingly. (A/N I don't know their actual names so I just called them this)

Rukia had lived _here_? Ichigo was mentally kicking himself for not bothering to ask about her own personal life, he had heard rumours about her not being born into the Kuchiki clan, but living _here_? Hanataro's chickens lived in a nicer place than this!

He expected her to break down crying at this point, but she didn't. She just stood there with a distant look in her eyes memories flooded through them. Things he could never imagine. Things he'd never understand.

She stood there for hours and Ichigo's heart melted as he saw how much this was bringing back to her.

Eventually, just as the sun was beginning to set, she walked over to the river in front of the hill. The sky was a mix of orange and purple, the clouds were a pale pink and the still lake reflected the disappearing sun.

Rukia slowly waded into the calm water, small waves rippling around her. Small white flowers drifted towards her. She gently cupped one in her hands, staring at it, smiling sadly.

Then she placed it in front of the middle grave. Ichigo grabbed two other flowers from the lake and placed them on the other two graves.

Rukia's eyes widened in shock.

"Ichigo...!" she exclaimed in surprise, "How – how long have you been here?" her voice was quiet and frail.

Suddenly he wrapped his arms around her tiny shoulders and whispered: "Ive been here the whole time, and I always will be Rukia…"

She smiled in somewhat relief, " Thank you Ichigo."

...

What did you think and any stories you think I might like to read based of what I like to write? I can't find anymore fanfics!

lIvE lAuGh LoVe


End file.
